"Today, there are around 25 — and that number varies on a regular basis," he added.

He said county police officers, "in combination with our law enforcement partners, have made tremendous progress undermining the flagrant and transparent sales of narcotics … on public street corners."

Two city men — brothers-in-law Nelson Mescual, 26, and Jose Vargas, 20 — are charged with his murder, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

The daylight attack occurred after Sanchez-Moncada, 32, asked someone to sell drugs in a narrow alley behind homes on the 3100 block of Merriel Avenue, says a probable cause statement for each suspect's arrest.

The alley, largely shielded from public view, is near a busy intersection at Westfield and Rosedale avenues. It's opposite the fenced-in East Camden clubhouse of The Boys and Girls Club of Camden County.

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Drug sales took place in an alley that runs behind Merriel Avenue to Rosedale Avenue, according to court records in a homicide case.(Photo: Jim Walsh, Staff photographer)

But shortly after the dealer went to work around 10 a.m., he was approached by a man named "Popi," who told him he could not sell drugs in the alley, the probable cause statement says.

The dealer told police he left the alley to meet Sanchez-Moncada, then entered his vehicle and relayed Popi's message.

The witness said Sanchez-Moncada drove to the alley, where a man approached the car from the passenger's side, spoke briefly to the victim in Spanish, and opened fire, according to the statement.

Another witness in the alley reported seeing a second gunman shooting from the driver's side of the vehicle, the statement says.

That witness, who claimed to recognize the gunman from previous drug buys in the alley, also said a passenger in Sanchez-Moncada's car "was potentially shooting back" during the incident.

Sanchez-Moncada, shot eight times in the head and body, crashed his Toyota RAV4 into a chain link fence behind a house, according to the statement.

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A memorial of liquor bottles and candles marks the scene of a Feb. 15 slaying in an East Camden alley.(Photo: Jim Walsh, Staff photographer)

A surveillance camera showed the passenger running away from the vehicle, then briefly returning to rummage through the front passenger compartment, the statement says.

The gunmen also fled on foot, discarding two sweatshirts as they ran, the statements say.

Those sweatshirts, which tested positive for gunshot residue on their sleeves, were grey and dark black/grey, the statement says.

In contrast, it notes, the dealer described Popi as wearing a dark blue hooded sweatshirt.

Investigators found two .380 caliber shell casings and broken glass in the alley, which now holds a memorial of tall candles and empty liquor bottles. Police found four more casings and two projectiles on the driver's side floor of the victim's vehicle.

The casings came from two different guns, police said.

Surveillance images showed a black car with three occupants in the area near the time of the shooting. A vehicle meeting that description belongs to Mescual's wife, the statement says.

She told police the car was in her husband's possession at the time of the shooting, according to the statement. The woman also identified Mescual and Vargas, her brother, from surveillance video, it says.

Investigators also noted a photo of Mescual on his wife's Facebook page showed him wearing a grey sweatshirt identical to one recovered in the alley.

In his remarks, Cappelli said the lower number of open-air drug sets is a sign of progress, but not success.

"There is still a lot of work to be done to undermine those sales and to address the opioid epidemic that is fueling those sales," he said.